A popular fast food chain doesn't serve the item it's named after - here's why
- A California-based chain surprisingly does not serve the meal its named after
- READ MORE: Are your fast food meals getting smaller?
A much-loved restaurant chain serves customers a huge range of fast food - including hot dogs, burgers and fries.
But strangely - despite its name - California-based Wienerschnitzel does not in fact serve a wiener schnitzel on its menus.
The Austrian-originated German delicacy is traditionally a thin cut of breaded and fried veal. In recent times, 'weiner' has been adopted as another name for hotdogs.
The strange tale of how the diner - famed for its hotdogs - never planned to serve its namesake dates back to the chain's origins in the 1950s.
The Austrian-originated German delicacy is traditionally a thin cut of breaded and fried veal
Wienerschnitzel was founded by John Galardi that decade, according to a new book on the chain.
Galardi was inspired by his time working for Glen Bell, the founder of Taco Bell and decided to open his own business, Drive-Thru Life explains.
The name came about after Galardi, who chose hotdogs to be the staple of his venture, asked Bell and his wife Martha for advice on the name.
Galardi floated the idea of John's Hot Dogs or Wonderful Hot Dogs but it was Martha who suggested wiener schnitzel after seeing it in a cookbook earlier that day.
'It's got wiener in it, which is another word for frankfurter,' she reportedly said.
Galardi initially had reservations, worried that a foreign name would be hard to pronounce.
However, he changed his mind hoping that its uniqueness would pique customer's interest and set his brand apart.
Wienerschnitzel was founded by John Galardi in the 1950s
Despite adopting a German name, originally Der Wienerschnitzel before being updated to just Wienerschnitzel, the menu remained all-American as intended.
The only exception to this was when in 2017 the chain introduced three chicken schnitzel sandwiches to its menu to celebrate 'the food it was named for.'
